All Nighters

June 6 is a Korean national holiday which means no work-day for us teachers, it also means we have a long weekend ahead and we kicked it off with a blast.

My office mates and I had been planning this one for nearly a month and it was a success. What's great was that it was payday last Thursday. LOL. With me were Brish, Arlien, Liz, Mark, Jaycel and, most unexpectedly, Kevin. We asked Kevin to come with us last Thursday night when he came by the office to pick up his paycheck. We were not really expecting that he'd come with us but he did and we couldn't be more happier.

We meet up with Kevin a couple of blocks away from our office building, then we did a quick stop at a local resto-bar to get ourselves something to eat and while waiting for our take out meals, Kevin, Mark, Liz and I decided to go to the nearest convenience store to buy snacks and liquor to cut us some extra time. Shortly after, we returned to the resto-bar; we waited for our order for a little while then we went to my house.

 

They all had dinner first, or midnight snacks, I suppose before we started drinking. It was a really fun night; I got so drunk--dunno why I easily get drunk lately, but I did and well--I sort of "forced" Kevin to listen to me. LOL We stayed up all night until most of the gang went upstairs to bed at around 6am. It was only Liz, Arlien and I who were awake until about 7am. 

 

We chatted for some time then decided to clean up and unfortunately, I broke a liquor bottle and injured a toe. It bled a lot and we were having a hard time stopping it from bleeding, but Liz and I were able to really get to know each other more that time. 

 

When the bleeding finally halted, the three of us went to sleep and at around 9 something I heard voices and realized that Jaycel and Kevin were already awake and eating breakfast with my parents. I decided to get up from bed too, and joined them in the breakfast table. I wasn't really hungry but felt the need to assist and eat with my guests. LOL 

 

Soon after, every one was awake and were eating breakfast. We all chatted about random things as they ate; later that morning we all decided to just squeeze in the spare room downstairs to hang out. It was really fun, we were telling each other random tales from work and our lives; it was great getting to know my workmates better and beyond the workplace too. 

 

 

It went on for hours as we all take turns to use the bathroom to take a shower. I honestly cannot simply express in words how happy I felt that day, it's unlike anything I've ever felt before and more. It was truly a pleasure to work (and to have worked with, in Kevin's case *insert sad face here*) with them. 

From L - R : Mark, Liz, me, Arlien, Brish, Kevin and Jaycel 

Of course we took a last group shot before they left. I really wish we'd do it again as it's the best all nighters party I ever been in. I love my workmates! ^_^

Ilocos, Wedding, Teaching Demo, Contest and Used Books

Well the title is really lame and blatant, sorry for that. I should really be sleeping now but I just really want to blog about the past three weeks. I know I should have blogged sooner, like right after I got home from the four day tour to Ilocos, but work load seemed to have piled up in an instant when I got back. So here I am, writing this late at night, powered by caffeine. This is going to be another lengthy post, so please bear with me since I tend to forget things easily that I just had to write everything down.

Ilocos Tour

I finally did it! After years of waiting for the right time to go on a vacation in Ilocos it finally happened and who would have thought that I'd be doing it with the entire College of Education?

As you know (if you have read my previous post) I wasn't really psyched about going to Ilocos when the tour date was finalized and announced because it was sooner than I expected and I was just starting to save for my pocket money. Luckily, my mom was generous enough (as always) to provide me with everything I needed prior the trip. Mac also bought me snacks for the bus and he bought me an iPad too, partly so I wouldn't be bored during the long trip and I guess it's an advance anniversary present :P

Anyway, Ilocos was wonderful! I never thought I'd enjoy it as much as I did. The following were our itineraries for three days:

First Day: Vigan, Pagudpud, Polaris Beach Resort, Bangui Windmills, Patapat Bridge, Burgos Lighthouse, La Elliana Hotel, La Preciosa Restaurant. Second Day: Paoay Church, Malacañang of the North, Bagnos Laoag Sinkung Bell Tower, St. Monica Church, Marcos Mausoleum and Memorabilia, Museo Ilocos Norte, Pidig Chirch, Salcedo Hotel, Third Day:The Miraculous Vigan Church, Plaza Burgos - Burgos Museum, Juan Luna Museum, Hidden Garden, Shrine of Our Lady of Charity

I loved every bit of it, no matter how long the trip was and no matter how tiring it could be to tour and walk around different places all day. It's an experience I wish to do all over again, perhaps in other places too. Here are photos by the way, I'll let them speak for me.



My Kuya's Wedding

So my older brother got married last Saturday, February 9th, I was part of the entourage and it was just simply fun and exciting. I am really happy that he finally decided to settle down and start a family of his own. I honestly admire him for being able to hold it too long to get married, I mean he's already in his mid-thirties and he just got married. Although I think he should have done that years ago, but I guess he wasn't ready then and it left me thinking how does one know that he or she is ready to get married and start a family?

The musing just got worse when I caught the bouquet during the reception...I know it's too early to be talking about weddings, but I guess that's just a wake up call for me, that I should be doing my best to attain my goals and finish project "Mia" first before I think about starting project "wedding". Perhaps one needs to finish certain things first, you know like accomplish career and personal goals before planning for the big day, and I think that's what I should really do now before I start considering hiring a pre-nup photographer.

Apparently, the divider between student life and reality becomes thinner as graduation day comes closer, making me think about what I really wanted to do first after I graduate. I need to get my plan laid out once and for all, although I know I won't always attain them all, but it's worth a try and it may also just serve as a guide as to what I should accomplish in the following years to come before I finally throw my own bouquet on my wedding night. ;)





Final Teaching Demonstration

In other news, I have been preparing for my final teaching demonstration. I have been under a lot of mental and a bit of physical stress lately just trying to get my presentation done and sensible, hence the reason why I wasn't able to blog immediately. So far though I am doing great, I have finally pulled my head off stand-by mode and started working on my learning guide and invitation designs.

I finished all three today, the final presentation, my learning guide and my invitation card. I will be having my final lesson dry-run on Monday, hopefully this time I'll be able to discuss my lesson about Les Miserables (the novel) in just 30 minutes so that I'd still have ample time for the group enrichment activities, reporting and closure activities. I tested my first presentation last Monday and I wasn't able to give the group activities within one period because of the long discussion. So I made major adjustments with the help of my cooperating teacher; gosh, I really don't know where I'd be without her, I wish she knows how grateful I am to have her as my cooperating teacher since I'm not really good in expressing my feelings verbally, hence the reason I keep a blog. :))

Anyway, Felice had her demo earlier today and I'm just happy that she finally got over with it and she was able to pull through perfectly. I am really proud of her and I'm extremely grateful that all her hard work had paid off and it paid off well. Mine will be on Tuesday and I'm fervently praying that I'd get similar results.


Contest and Used Books

I won first place in PixieChronicle.com's giveaway! :D I won a .info domain, a $20 coupon for romwe.com and three months advertising on Marinella Rose's blogs! AWESOME right? :D Will announce my new domain soon :)

Late last month, I discovered a second hand book bargain shop online and what's better is that it's totally legit and some percentage of the books you buy gets to be donated to charity. It's BetterWorldBooks.com!

I ordered a couple of books that I have been dying to read for ages. I know I could have just settled with the ebooks, but there really are some books that I want to read in print. Although while waiting for my books to arrive today I did finish about five books, all zombie novels and four of which were written by Jesse Petersen ;)

So yes, that's right. The books I ordered finally came in the mail today and I am so excited in reading them all! But perhaps I won't be able to pick up one of them until after I finish my final teaching demo and after I finish my narrative reports too. So it kind of sucks but it sort of adds to the excitement anyway. :P

By the way, before I end this post I wish to apologize to my blog friends for not being able to visit their sites in the last three weeks, I promise to do it ASAP. Cheers!

Les Miserables 2012

That's right, Les Miserables made it's debut in the U.S. recently and I couldn't be more thrilled as it would be coming to Philippine cinemas on January 16th. Les Mis is my number one favorite musical and novel of all time and I might have watched a couple of adaptations of it on film and television, and in various languages too. So you can say I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to it. It's also a Broadway classic for decades now, making this year's movie adaptation an even bigger hit.

This year's version of Les Mis stars Hugh Jackman as the ever famous ex-convict, Jean Val-Jean, the protagonist of the story. Russell Crowe played the part of the antagonist, Inspector Javert, while Anne Hathaway stars as Fauntine and Amanda Seyfried as Cosette and with the four main characters being huge celebs, this production has definitely been abundantly budgeted.

Les Miserables tells us the tales of Jean Val-Jean as he comes to the end of his term after an 18 year sentence in the Toulon prison, set in early 1900's France. The story follows Val-Jean as he tried to cope up with life and in his journey of becoming a renewed man. Les Miserables is an enthralling story of broken dreams, unrequited love and redemption and will surely, once again, touch the hearts of millions of people.

I will definitely see this on the cinema next month. This is just an opportunity I cannot dare to miss.

In other news, and a completely off topic one, I have just been invited by the Iowa City Owl website to write for them. This is definitely the biggest news I've received this year. It's like a hidden Christmas present that came out of nowhere. I'm just really thankful about it. See you there, soon! :D Cheers!